When I retire (someday) I have long planned to take a world tour of places with two names the same! Walla-Walla as you noted in the introduction to this week's theme, and also: Baden Baden, Bora Bora, Pago Pago, Ubu Ubu, Paw Paw, New York, New York, Bella Bella and Wagga Wagga, just to name a few.

Good idea Bartlett And....while you are in New York, dont forget to visit Sing Sing!

There is a place on the West Coast of New Zealand called, Hari Hari. Its sometimes referred to as Harihari (but thats another discussion).Its a small town, popular for bush walking, bird watching and trout or salmon fishing. It was in Hari Hari that Australian pilot, Guy Menziescompleted the first solo flight across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in 1931, crash-landing upside down in a swamp!

This duplication of words is a rich vein to be mined.[And it IS duplication, NOT REduplication as the introduction has it. To duplicate chop is to write chop chop. To REduplicate would be to write chop chop chop chop.] Here in Australia many of the aboriginal languages seem to favour such duplication. Especially this is true of place names, as others have pointed out. You might live in Wagga Wagga or Wangi Wangi or even Grong Grong. If you are from way out in the sticks you might be said to come from Woop Woop.That far out in the inland you might choke from the dust thrown up by a willy willy or you might once have been hit on the head with a nulla nulla. If you surf on the coast you might ride a bora bora. If you watch birds you might see a Gang Gang or hear a Bulbul.If you make a real Boo Boo of a criminal kind you could have ended up in Jika Jika like Sing Sing in the USA. Up north you can dine on Paw Paw. In Africa you could hunt a Dik Dik. So let's hear it for duplication. Bite the bullet...maybe a Dum Dum, beat the drum, make sure it's a Tom Tom, put on your Tutu and dance the Can Can, or settle down and read all about Tintin while smoking some chop chop [Here it means illegal tobacco on which duty has not been paid].Me? I'm off for a wee wee then I'll treat myself to a Bon Bon. As they used to say on British radio TTFN which means TaTa for now.Raraavis

rarebird, in spite of the logic of it all, a linguist will disagree with you..

Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) is repeated exactly or with a slight change.

Reduplication is used in inflections to convey a grammatical function, such as plurality, intensification, etc., and in lexical derivation to create new words. It is often used when a speaker adopts a tone more "expressive" or figurative than ordinary speech and is also often, but not exclusively, iconic in meaning. Reduplication is found in a wide range of languages and language groups, though its level of linguistic productivity varies.

Reduplication is the standard term for this phenomenon in the linguistics literature. Other terms that are occasionally used include cloning, doubling, duplication, repetition, and tautonym. -wiki [EA]

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